Nofret (Princess)

Ancient Egyptian princess

Nofret (also known as Nefert or Neferet) was a noblewoman and a princess who lived in Ancient Egypt during the 4th dynasty of Egypt c. 2613 to 2494 BC. Nofert name means "beautiful". She holds the title of "King's Acquaintance" in her statue.

Nofret
(Nfr-t)
Nofret
Nofret's statue, Cairo Museum
Resting placeMastaba 6 at Meidum
Other namesNefret, Neferet
TitleKing's Acquaintance
SpouseRahotep
ChildrenDjedi
♂ Itu
♂ Neferkau
♀ Mereret
♀ Nedjemib
♀ Sethtet

Nofret's parents are not known. Nofret married Prince Rahotep, a son of Pharaoh Sneferu. She had six children with Rahotep: three daughters - Mereret, Nedjemib, and Sethtet - and three sons, Djedi, Itu, and Neferkau. They all had the same title of "King's Acquaintance".[1]

Nofret was buried with her husband in mastaba 6 at Meidum.[2] beautiful statues of Rahotep and Nofret were found in 1871.[3] Nofret is depicted with a black wig and very fair face. Her titles in hieroglyphs on the back of her chair name her as "King's Acquaintance".[4] The statues are now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.[5] The mastaba of the couple had two burial chambers and two cult chapels. The Southern cult chapel belonged to Rahotep, the northern one to Nofret. Here she is depicted with Rahotep in front of an offering table. The text has a second title for her: miteret (translation still not known today).[6]

Stamps and Coins

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In 1958[7] 1989,[8] and 2000, pictures of Nofret were put on Egyptian stamps. These stamps cost 20 PT.[9] and have the number 1669. In 1966, a stamp from Fujairah also had a picture of Nofret, showing a pair statue. The watermark on the LE 20 banknote has the head of a sculpted image of Nofret.[10]

References

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  1. Dodson, Aidan. The Complete Royal Families Of Ancient Egypt With Over 300 Illustrations 90 In Color. pp. 53–61.
  2. Dodson and Hilton, The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt, 2004
  3. Jacques Kinnaer. "Rahotep and Nofret". Ancient-egypt.org. Archived from the original on 2012-04-14. Retrieved 2012-05-01.
  4. "Rahotep and Nofret". Egyptorigins.org. Archived from the original on 2020-01-24. Retrieved 2012-05-01.
  5. "Seneferu". Euler.slu.edu. Archived from the original on 2019-07-21. Retrieved 2012-05-01.
  6. Petrie, William Matthew Flinders. Medum (plates IX, X and XV). London 1892.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  7. "EGYPT - CIRCA 1958: stamp printed by Egypt, shows Sculpture of." 123RF. Retrieved 2023-12-29.
  8. , 1989 "EGYPT - CIRCA 1989: stamp printed by Egypt, shows Statue of princess." 123RF. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  9. "Stamp: Nofret, wife of Rahotep (Egypt(Definitives (1997-2000)) Mi:EG 2016I,Sn:EG 1752,Yt:EG 1669,Sg:EG 2021,Nil:EG D375". Colnect. Retrieved 2023-12-03.
  10. "Stamp: Statues of Prince Rahotep and Princess Nofret (Fujairah) (Intl. Stamp Exhibition, Cairo: 100 Years of Egyptian Stamps) Mi:FU 53A,Yt:FU 42". Colnect. Retrieved 2019-02-10.